Printing the Image - The "Your ass is grass!" Edition

Apologies for the juvenile nature of the caption, but there were no grassy knolls in the photographs and, while not quite illegal, grass isn’t actually legal in Portugal (it’s complicated and has more to do with how the country has decided to treat drug addicts [not by locking them up, but by offering addiction services] than with the substance itself), so I had to resort to a saying I used a lot growing up in the late 60’s and early 70’s . . . not that I’m much more mature today than then, but . . . to attract your attention to the theme Ann and I used in selecting the images to develop and print this weekend.  That theme is grass.

Early in the week before our printing session (have to print every few weeks to keep the printer heads clean!) a funny coincidence happened.  Ann had been upstairs working on whatever and I decided I needed to take a break from writing a brief, so I trudged up the steps, phone in pocket.  When I looked into Ann’s room, she had a photograph up, “Hon, that’s beautiful!”  “She said, yeah, I was going to ask you about it.”  Little had I realized, she had texted me to come up because she wanted to show me something.  It was only afterwards I found out that she had texted me - so brownie points for me!

Anyway, it was an image of grasses - the first image in today’s post.  We discussed the photograph, and then about grasses and textures in general and how they can really add something to a photograph.  We then decided that we’d try to find some images along that theme - grasses, and how they provide textures in photographs - and develop them for our next printing session.  

I was excited about Ann’s image not only because of the beautiful subtle coloring of the grasses, but the fact that, for Ann, it was more graphic visually - a stark departure from her usual landscape images.  And the fact that it is so visually striking in its textures and layers.

I immediately thought of a corresponding image as we discussed doing a printing session based on the grasses theme.  As it wound up, several of the images I would develop specifically for this session came from the same location in Yellowstone during our first trip to the Lamar Valley, albeit on different days.

At one point during the week, Ann came down the stairs and asked if the grass theme was limited to images that were entirely of grasses.  I said, “Not for me it doesn’t.  I’m counting an image as valid if the grasses are a prominent theme that gives the image texture and life.”  I’m glad I took that position because Ann came up with a lovely image of Mt. Shasta from the Klamath National Wildlife Refuge that looks even better in print than on screen.

My second image utilized the red and green grasses in the pond from my first image as a mid-area balance to a rock, as the sun was setting on our last day in the Lamar Valley during that trip.

Keeping to the theme of grass textures, and Ann’s willingness to explore the range of imagery in her catalogs, she came up with an image of the back side of Three Fingered Jack, taken the morning after we hiked in to camp and photograph the night skies.  In one respect this image brings back terrible memories.  As beautiful as the wild flowers are, the mosquitos that morning were absolutely unbearable.  I broke down and decided to shave a few years off my life by lathering up in DEET, and even then, the mosquitos were unrelenting.  Ann, with a bug mask covering her head, didn’t fare any better.  Still, it is such a beautiful meadow.  

My next shot brings me closer to the original grassy pond and is another lovely landscape from that first Yellowstone trip - the one we had to depart early from due to a snowstorm (which arrived the next day).

Ann’s next two images are from colder times.  The first comes from one of our winter outings to the Painted Hills (thankful for having heat in Beast).  A place really changes when you wake up to frost on the ground - even if it doesn’t last long once the sun hits it.  Again, the glow of light on the print outshines it on screen.

And of course, waking up to snow, like on one of our trips to Yosemite, is an altogether different experience.  Yet even then, the foreground grasses give a sense of depth and definition to the snow that would have otherwise been missing.

My last Yellowstone grass photograph comes from a very different location and is a very different type of photograph.  Still, it’s the play of light and texture in the grasses and bushes that makes the image appealing and suited for this printing session. 

We of course couldn’t stick with just color images.  Ann decided to work on a black and white version of her first image.  And while I think the print is more interesting than the image on-screen, I have to agree with her that the sharpness of the front reeds doesn’t outweigh the coloration and greater depth of field in her first image.

I too had a black and white image in mind to print, but it’s one you’ve seen before.  In fact, that’s the case for my last two images.

And while we both felt that Ann’s black and white image didn’t turn out as well as we’d hoped, we both agree the opposite is true for mine. 

The print is, in a word, stunning.  Ann had one B&W print with the Canon printer that was mesmerizing, but in general, the B&W prints from that printer seemed to lack something.  This is the first ink-jet print that I can say competes with real silver halide paper from my wet darkroom days.  And given the overall quality of the B&W images from our two printing sessions, I think I have to say that the Epson printer does have a leg up over the Cannon with respect to B&W.  Hopefully they’ll continue to compete with the depth and beauty I used to get from the wet darkroom.

You can probably figure the other image I was going to print.  It too was as stunning as I’d hoped.  Words cannot describe the colors, textures and sense of depth in the image.

While Ann and I are still “testing” out the Epson printer, we have to admit, everything seems to be working well and we are quite satisfied with the results.  Even if it takes us a silly theme to get our butts to work on images to print.

And now for an added bonus on today’s subject, even though we didn’t print it.  I’ve mentioned that Len and I will periodically send each other photographs, in part to share a common interest, and in part to motivate ourselves and each other to get out there and photograph or to develop the images we’ve taken.  Call it a positive application of brotherly competitiveness (believe me, it’s a lot better than him giving me a noogie).

Well guess what came into my email box the day after Ann and I printed the grass photographs?

Honest - I didn’t tell him the subject we’d picked for this printing session!  I guess Ann and I are not alone in our thoughts about grass in photographs.

Oh, and Len, sorry about blindsiding you and not asking permission to use your image.  But hey, isn’t that what little brothers are for?